Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Tonya Johnson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, Health System Chief Operating Officer at MU Health Care

Transcript

Tonya Johnson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, Health System Chief Operating Officer at MU Health Care · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
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  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where do they go
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  - to pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Tanya Johnson, health system chief operating officer at
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  - MU Health Care. Tanya, it's a pleasure to
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  - have you on the podcast today.
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  - Laura, it's my pleasure to be here.
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  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation. I
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  - know there's a lot happening at MU HealthCare
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  - and certainly it'll be exciting to hear what
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  - you're looking forward to in the future too.
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  - But before we dig in, can you tell
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  - us a little bit more about yourself and
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  - your background?
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  - Sure, Laura. I'm Tanya Johnson. I'm the health
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  - system chief operating officer at MU Health Care.
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  - I'm a nurse by background,
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  - a lifelong learner, started as a diploma nurse,
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  - and now have a doctoral degree in nursing
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  - practice,
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  - and continue learning from my colleagues and my
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  - teammates every day. Never a dull moment in
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  - operations, so I thoroughly enjoy the work that
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  - I've been blessed to be able to do.
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  - Absolutely. That's great to hear. Now can you
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  - give us a a quick state of the
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  - union? What's gone well this year, and what
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  - are you looking forward to for the rest
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  - of 2026?
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  - Sure. 2026
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  - has certainly been a busy year, but a
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  - strong year for for execution for us, especially
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  - as we continue to address the growing demand
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  - for specialty and outpatient
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  - care across Mid Missouri.
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  - Lots of progress expanding capacity in key key
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  - clinical service lines like cardiology,
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  - surgical services, neurosciences,
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  - infusion services, and endoscopy.
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  - I think the Keene Street Medical Center has
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  - been a major milestone in our commitment to
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  - outpatient growth and our strategy.
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  - We opened a new ambulatory infusion unit there.
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  - We expanded diagnostic capabilities for MRI services as
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  - well as CT.
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  - We relocated
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  - neurology.
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  - Our clinic services there just allowing greater access
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  - and operational ease and capacity for our patients.
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  - And we're planning on opening an urgent care
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  - at that location as well next month, so
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  - we're excited about that.
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  - We also see lots of strong growth in
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  - procedural volumes and outpatient utilization,
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  - which really reinforces our important...
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  - In our investments in ambulatory
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  - care.
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  - And I would be remiss to say we
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  - aren't doubling down on operating room capacity, both
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  - through efficiency, but also in our new children's
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  - hospital as we embark on opening the 3rd
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  - Floor Operating Suite there shortly in April.
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  - I guess what we're focused on for the
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  - rest of 2026,
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  - probably, I'd say,
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  - underlying everything we do is sort of the
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  - culture, which defines how we do the work,
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  - our values and behaviors. And so we're undergoing
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  - a reimagined
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  - cultural renovation right now.
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  - I think over the last ten years, we've
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  - grown about 40%. And so, therefore,
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  - our our values and our culture and our
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  - behaviors from ten years ago don't necessarily apply
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  - to where we're going in the future. And
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  - so we need to evolve to match their
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  - current needs,
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  - and priorities.
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  - And, of course, we're continuing to improve access,
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  - like I said, reducing wait times, expanding capacity,
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  - and making sure that we're growing in their
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  - high demand specialties.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. And I
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  - think, to your point, capacity is something that
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  - I know so many organizations are thinking about
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  - right now. And so, you know, what does
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  - that really mean to you? How are you,
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  - thinking differently about what you can do to
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  - to create more capacity for,
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  - the community? And, you know, how is that
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  - really then dovetailing into what you were mentioning
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  - in in terms of the culture and and
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  - how that's shifting to be ready for the
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  - future?
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  - I think underlying all capacity is really making
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  - sure that recruiting specialized physicians and care teams
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  - to support this continued growth.
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  - People are really the most important aspect of
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  - our work.
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  - But then also understanding
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  - how do we expand outpatient locations and services
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  - that are convenient for patients. We like to
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  - deliver care close to home wherever possible.
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  - And shifting sort of from the inpatient to
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  - the outpatient perspective
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  - allows us to increase the complexity of care
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  - that we can,
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  - provide for patients that need the highest acuity
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  - and complexity of care at our Columbia location
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  - at University Hospital.
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  - But always, always looking at how do we
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  - optimize our processes and increase efficiency,
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  - which underlying builds capacity without adding capital resources.
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  - And that makes a lot of sense. And
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  - it's helpful to understand, you know, really solid,
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  - road map and and plan strategy
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  - to move forward with. Now I I know
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  - looking into the future too, it's not,
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  - always easy, and there are certainly lots of
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  - headwinds. So which are are some of the
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  - big headwinds that you're keeping your eye on
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  - and preparing for?
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  - I think I started to talk a little
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  - bit about workforce, and, you know, I'm I'm
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  - sure I'm not unique. That's a challenge across
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  - all organizations nationally
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  - in in health care, but also in other
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  - organizations outside of health care and certainly a
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  - challenge for us here at MU Health Care.
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  - We continue to see a real high demand
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  - for
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  - increasing competition for specialized clinical talent,
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  - and so making sure that we're a great
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  - place to work, which doubles down again on
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  - sort of our culture and the renovation there.
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  - But
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  - it begs to differ that we have to
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  - consider about how do we balance, right, investments
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  - in our workforce,
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  - inflationary pressures, reimbursement challenges.
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  - And so like other health systems, we're navigating
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  - sort of the shift in where care is
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  - delivered
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  - and making sure that we're moving services where
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  - patients prefer to get their services, which most
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  - of the times is in an outpatient setting
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  - that has ease of access,
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  - but also allows them, like I said, ability
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  - to care for higher complexity of patients at
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  - our inpatient locations.
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  - And I guess I'd be a little bit
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  - remiss if I didn't at least talk about
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  - the financial environment,
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  - that's facing health care right now. You know,
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  - the proposed changes to three forty b, to
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  - Medicaid,
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  - site neutrality,
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  - all requires us to be extremely disciplined in
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  - our decision making and very proactive in the
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  - planning around capital investments and operating expenses.
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  - And so prioritizing our strategic capital projects that
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  - improve both access and our long term sustainability
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  - are front of mind for us.
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  - Absolutely. That's helpful to understand. And, you know,
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  - I I think really, truly, when you look
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  - at the talent pipeline and,
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  - how... All the different,
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  - ways that, you know,
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  - it's really changing and,
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  - the things that you're doing to make sure
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  - you've got the workforce there, you've got the
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  - access there, and outpatient expansion as well is
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  - fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing,
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  - all those different tactics. And, you know, to
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  - your point, I know there's a lot of
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  - opportunities for growth there as well. So can
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  - you share a little bit more about that?
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  - Where do you see some of the big
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  - opportunities in the next two to three years
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  - or so?
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  - Yeah. On sort of that short term horizon,
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  - I see a couple of opportunities for us.
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  - Number one is primarily in outpatient care. Right?
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  - We're hearing from our patients. They they want
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  - convenience,
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  - frictionless
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  - access. And so our King Street Medical Center
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  - continues to be a platform to provide this
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  - continued growth, both in ambulatory services, but also
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  - diagnostics and fusion,
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  - neurology, urgent care and other specialties.
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  - Strategically shifting the appropriate care into our outpatient
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  - setting improves access again in patient experience while
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  - also preserving our hospital capacity for higher acuity
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  - complex patients.
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  - Second, I see opportunity in surgical services.
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  - We've got demand for surgical care that continues
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  - to grow across our region,
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  - and now our operating room capacity
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  - needs to run as efficiently as possible, but
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  - we also know that the data shows we
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  - need advanced surgical technology
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  - and increased capacity.
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  - And so that's where our third Floor children's
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  - hospital operating suite comes into play. Really excited
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  - about our new intraoperative MRI.
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  - That investment really strengthens our position as a
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  - regional destination for advanced neurosurgical care and meets
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  - a growing need for our patients.
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  - And then third, cardiovascular
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  - services.
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  - This cardiovascular disease remains one of the most
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  - prevalent health care needs in our region and
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  - nationally.
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  - And so expanding cath lab, and electrophysiological
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  - capacity
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  - positions us very well to meet the increasing
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  - demand for advanced cardiac care and intervention... Interventions
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  - here in Mid Missouri.
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  - But I would like to just say the
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  - growth isn't, you know, just growth for the
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  - sake of growth.
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  - It's not about adding volume. It's really about
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  - ensuring our patients in Mid Missouri and throughout
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  - Missouri can access specialized high quality care close
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  - to where they live.
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  - And as an academic health system, growth also
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  - needs to support our mission of research, education,
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  - and clinical excellence as well.
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  - I love it. I I think there's so
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  - much, potential there. And to your point, it
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  - really truly ties back to what the community
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  - needs and what's gonna be most beneficial for
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  - patients,
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  - not just for girls' sake, but really knowing
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  - what's gonna be,
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  - there for them and and thinking through, you
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  - know, what the future need is going to
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  - be as well. So, I really appreciate that.
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  - And to... To,
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  - out of curiosity,
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  - when you're looking at some of that strategic
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  - shift into the inventory setting and and more
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  - outpatient care, some virtual care too,
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  - what does that look like as you're shifting,
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  - you know, some of the traditional,
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  - financial models for the health system and seeing
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  - reimbursement policies and all that change?
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  - What really goes into thinking about the future
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  - and making sure there's that financial stability
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  - while knowing that, the care delivery models are
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  - changing and then the reimbursements are changing as
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  - well.
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  - Yeah. So as an academic organization, we continue
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  - to double down on sort of an evidence
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  - based and data driven approach. So we use
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  - a lot of market data to understand, you
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  - know, where is care shifting?
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  - What does the future look like? I wish
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  - we had a crystal ball. That would be
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  - great because we could certainly
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  - put our plan in ink versus pencil.
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  - However,
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  - knowing that patients continue to come to us
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  - for the cardiovascular care, the neurosurgical
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  - care,
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  - endoscopy and GI is another area.
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  - We continue to invest in those opportunities and
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  - make sure that wherever we're locating that new
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  - growth and that new care, it's in a
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  - place that's easily accessible for our patients.
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  - We don't know what the shifting models and
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  - payment reimbursements will actually look like. There's a
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  - lot of proposed threats to that.
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  - But the best way we can position ourselves
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  - is to become as efficient as possible and
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  - to take care as many patients who need
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  - our care as we possibly can in areas
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  - and locations that are convenient and close to
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  - home for them.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. Thank you
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  - so much, Tanya. Now before we wrap up
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  - our conversation,
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  - I'm curious,
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  - who is a leader that you really admire
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  - from any industry and why?
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  - So this is a lot of thought behind
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  - this one. I'd have to say Shirley Chisholm,
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  - and probably a lot of people don't know
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  - her, but she was the first Black woman
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  - elected to Congress and to seek the Democratic
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  - nomination for president.
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  - And that's actually not why I admire her.
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  - She had a message. She always said, I'm
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  - unbought and unbossed.
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  - And at first glance, you might say, that
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  - sounds like she didn't need a lot of
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  - support. She was over... Overly autonomous and maybe
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  - defiant.
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  - But that's not the case at all. And
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  - unbought and unbossed really sort of resonates with
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  - me.
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  - Shirley was willing to bring the voice of
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  - those not at the table to decisions and
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  - still stand firmly in her values even when
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  - it wasn't popular.
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  - And so Chisholm reminds me to challenge the
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  - status quo while still being grounded in who
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  - I am and what I believe in. And
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  - so as a chief operating officer, I've got
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  - great influence over what might seem practical issues
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  - like access, resource allocation, workflows.
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  - But it's important that I keep the perspectives
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  - of those that are not at the executive
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  - table, which are our patients, our employees. And
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  - I keep those front of mind when I'm
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  - making those types of decisions.
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  - So to me,
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  - that's what an authentic leadership looks like. That's...
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  - It's courage, it's integrity, and it's using my
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  - influence to make things better for others. And
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  - that's why I picked Shirley Chisholm.
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  - What a great example of a leader who
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  - really was, to your point, courageous and had
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  - a lot done. It invoked lots of positive
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  - change and and really was there for the
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  - community. So, Tanya, thank you so much for,
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  - your time today. This has been such an
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  - amazing conversation and really cool to hear about
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  - everything you're doing at University of Missouri, and
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  - look forward to connecting with you again soon.
• 13:32
  - Oh, no. It's been a pleasure, Laura. We're
• 13:33
  - certainly proud of the work we're doing here.